The present invention relates in general to cooking apparatus and, more particularly, to an improved cooking apparatus with an oven-cooking function carried out by means of a heater heating a heating chamber.
In a conventional cooking apparatus of this type such as a microwave oven, in an oven-cooking mode, a heater in a heating chamber is controlled by comparing a preset cooking temperature with the current temperature in the heating chamber detected by a temperature sensor. Temperature setting keys, e.g., temperature-up and temperature-down keys are provided on an operation panel as means for setting a cooking temperature. A cooking temperature is initially set at a lower limit temperature, e.g., 100.degree. C. when either the temperature-up or temperature-down key is operated for the first time. The cooking temperature is increased in steps toward an upper limit temperature, e.g., 250.degree. C. in response to the operation of the temperature-up key. When the temperature-down key is depressed, the cooking temperature is decreased in steps toward the lower limit temperature of 100.degree. C. Note that in this case, the designated cooking temperature is successively displayed on a display unit of the operation panel.
However, in the oven-cooking mode, the cooking temperature is most frequently near 200.degree. C. For this reason, if the cooking temperature is initially set at 100.degree. C., it takes a long time to shift the cooking temperature to a desired value, thus the operation is cumbersome.
In the cooking apparatus of this type, ten keys are not used to set the cooking temperature for the following reasons.
(1) A ten key arrangement is complicated.
(2) If a wrong value is set, ten keys must be again operated after a clear key operation.
(3) The key switch arrangement needs more space. Thus, the space for cooking menu selection keys becomes smaller.
(4) Cooking temperatures usually range from 100.degree. C. to 250.degree. C. It is generally unnecessary to set a temperature outside this range. Further, it is usually uncessary to raise or lower the temperature by 1.degree. C.